Stephen Lum ~ Portraits

Photographers should always continue learning, growing their craft, and shoot for fun. Yes, I said it, shoot for the fun of it! It is in these moments where we can once again find ourselves as an artist. I was smitten when Stephen agreed to be my subject for the weekend! For a few reasons – a) I don’t normally do portraits of guys – I would love to (come on dudes, where u at?) but haven’t really had the opportunity to do one-on-one portrait sessions with any males! So it’s awesome learning experience! b) Normally I’ve had to work with a range of different heights when working with couples. It’s fun to get a whole variety of different poses based on the varying heights when shooting couples. With portraits, you have one subject, so you have to work with your surroundings instead of another person. Oh and did I mention, Stephen is 6’8? Ummm, never have I ever photographed anyone this tall! I’ve known Stephen for a good amount of time, but not until I had a camera in my hands did I really have to think about how height plays a factor in portraits. c) I learned this lesson from Lindsay Adler (fashion photog!) you need to go out and do shoots for fun to continue learning, be inspired, grow your portfolio, and think like a photographer. Many photographers will tell you, some of their favorite portfolio images have come out of sessions that were for fun. So thank you Stephen for allowing me to capture you - for being such a calm soul, and singing/playing me songs along the way (he even writes his own – see video below!). As I mentioned, I’m continuing to grow my craft, so I tried different editing techniques to go along with the vintage feel of the shoot. What do u think?

And I hope he doesn’t mind, I love his cover of “I Will Follow You Into The Dark”